User-pay Garbage Makes Polluters Pay

by Carl Duivenvoorden (www.changeyourcorner.com). Carl is one of 22 Atlantic
Canadians trained by Al Gore to deliver presentations of 'An Inconvenient
Truth.' His column runs every other Monday in the Telegraph Journal.

When I lived in an urban neighbourhood years ago, I remember feeling ripped
off every garbage day. The reason was this: even as I’d strive to limit
my trash to a bag or less, up and down the street heaps of four, five or
more bags a week were common. Since garbage collection is covered by property
taxes, it didn’t seem fair: the people who put out the least trash
were subsidizing those who put out the most.

So it’s refreshing to hear that Saint John city council is considering
implementing a user-pay garbage collection system.

Basic human behaviour

At first glance, it’s easy to scoff that this is just another tax grab
by a cash-strapped council. But here’s another way to view it: a legitimate
effort to reduce the cost and environmental impacts of trash collection and
disposal by appealing to basic human behaviour.

Most of us aren’t motivated to do the right thing because it’s
the right thing to do; we’re motivated by the stuff in our wallets. Anything
without a price tag is easy to ignore; anything that costs gets our attention.

Garbage
collection does cost New Brunswickers millions, of course, but the cost is
hidden in that flat annual fee called property taxes. So once the yearly
bill has been paid, putting out limitless amounts of trash seems like an entitlement,
and there is zero incentive to reduce, reuse or recycle – especially
in situations where recycling is a hassle.

Big savings potential

But what would happen if the cost of garbage collection and disposal were
taken out of our property tax bills, and made a separate item that we each
paid for based on the amount of trash we produced?

First, our property taxes would go down, because one of the bigger expenses
those taxes cover would be removed from that budget.

Secondly, we’d recycle more, because suddenly there would be an incentive
to sort recyclables out of our trash streams. Unfortunately, not many of us
do that today: the average bag of trash at NB landfills is brimming with materials
that don’t belong in a landfill in the first place. (Less wealthy and
wasteful societies refer to such materials as resources.)

More recycling would allow for more efficient and user-friendly recycling
programs, so that recycling would become easier than putting out trash.

More
recycling might also spur a home-grown recycling industry, creating local
jobs. It surprises most people to learn that many recyclables collected in
NB are shipped halfway around the world to China.

Thirdly, we’d produce less trash because everybody wants to save money.
A convenient side effect would be that our landfills would last much longer.
Considering how expensive they are to build and how hard it is to find a new
site when on old one is full, that’s a major plus.

The concept of user pay has been around for ages in our society: it’s
how we already pay for things like electricity, gasoline and groceries. For
trash, many approaches are possible, such as specific garbage bags that residents
must buy, or different sized dumpsters that can be rented for different annual
fees. Often, residents are allowed one or two “free” bags a week
and pay just for the extra.

Keys to success

The success of user pay systems hinges on a few key points.

First, property taxes must go down accordingly, or else user pay garbage really
is just a tax grab.

Secondly, a comprehensive, convenient, user-friendly recycling program is
essential; curbside pickup is typically the best option. Hazardous waste and
oversized trash need to be handled separately as well.

Thirdly and critically, resources must be available to educate people on the
system and prevent illegal dumping, which is perhaps the biggest impediment
to user-pay trash programs. Rural areas have a special challenge because of
their abundance of back roads; when it comes to saving a buck, it’s amazing
how much gas some people will burn. But as with smoking and drinking and driving,
social pressure can play a big role in reducing littering.

A worthy objective

User pay trash systems have been successfully implemented in places like Toronto,
Victoria and Yellowknife, so why not here? A way to lower taxes, make polluters
pay and be kinder to the earth. In my book, that’s fair.